political leanings of my friends don't affect our friendship..
it's not only about how people vote .. eventhough not always true, I find that people's mindset/values are often different .. I did have liberal friends from San Fran (they were my friends from the old country).. once they came over for a 10 day vacation to my house, it was the last time we spoke .. the attitude was the one shown in Berkley students - vacation is a right, thus should be paid for and serviced by the government hosts .. :-)
on topic - all the critique of the intellectuals is done by other intellectuals .. so it's not like ignorant people don't them, it's the people who are capable of analysis see how absurd and sometimes dangerous their many ideas have been ..